1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to image capture devices, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for calibrating image capture devices.
2. Background
Electronic devices are ubiquitous in society and can be found in everything from wristwatches to cellular telephones. With the proliferation of integrated circuitry, these electronic devices are becoming more and more sophisticated. Many of these electronic devices—especially consumer electronic devices—include the ability to take pictures using an image capture device embedded within the electronic device. The actual image capture devices employed in these electronic devices are often solid-state. Examples of image capture devices are charge coupled devices (CCDs) and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors devices. These solid-state type image capture devices are often cost effective (which may be especially important when being implemented in consumer electronics) because they are manufactured using semiconductor fabrication principles.
One disadvantage in utilizing solid state image capture devices, however, is that the color balance may vary between image capture devices due to manufacturing variations among the image capture devices. In other words, despite two electronic devices (such as two CCD cameras) being the same make and model, they may have different color balances so that pictures taken of the same object by each device may depict color variations when compared to one another. Color imbalances of this type may be particularly acute for the red content of the image, due to variations in the red and infrared (IR) content of the illumination source, and the effect of the IR blocking filter.
Accordingly, there is a need for calibrating the color response of image capture devices.